Movies

A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive.

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Half the Sky (2012)

HALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to bear witness to the plight of the world’s women, but to help to transform their oppression into opportunity. Our future is in the hands of women everywhere.

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Not Today (2013)

Caden Welles has the world at his disposal. With the resources of his wealthy father, he’s living life as large as any 20-year-old could dream. But what happens when that dream becomes a nightmare halfway around the world? Traveling with his friends to Hyderabad, India on a whim, Caden’s expectations of a never-ending party crash hard. But not as hard as his conscience when he refuses to help a starving man and his little girl. Haunted by the images of Kiran and Annika, Caden attempts to right his wrong-only to discover Kiran has been forced to sell his own daughter. Caden’s eyes are now opened to a world few Americans know still exists: a thriving human-trafficking trade. Add the dehumanization of Kiran and hundreds of millions of other Dalits due to India’s caste system, and Caden could easily turn his back. Yet spurred by a true purpose, an unlikely new friendship, and the prayers of his mother and girlfriend back home, Caden chooses to help in Kiran’s unlikely search to find his daughter. Starring Cody Longo, Walid Amini, Shari Rigby, and John Schneider, NOT TODAY challenges moviegoers with a purpose that goes beyond its gripping story. The movie was produced by Friends Church Yorba Linda, a congregation committed to educating the Dalits and ending human trafficking in India. NOT TODAY is a powerful reminder that change is possible if we’re willing to open our eyes … today

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Trade of Innocents (2012)

In the back streets of a tourist town in present-day Southeast Asia, we find a filthy cinder block room; a bed with soiled sheets; a little girl waits for the next man. Alex (Dermot Mulroney), a human trafficking investigator, plays the role of her next customer as he negotiates with the pimp for the use of the child. Claire (Mira Sorvino), Alex’s wife, is caught up in the flow of her new life in Southeast Asia and her role as a volunteer in an aftercare shelter for rescued girls where lives of local neighborhood girl’s freedoms and dignity are threatened. Parallel story lines intertwine and unfold twists against the backdrop of the dangerous human trafficking world, in a story of struggle, life, hope and redemption in the “TRADE of INNOCENTS.”

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Trading Women (2003)

Trading Women enters the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians. Filmed in Burma, China, Laos, and Thailand, this is the first film to follow the trade in women in all its complexity and to consider the impact of this ‘far away’ problem on the gobal community.

Narrated by Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, the documentary investigates the trade in minority girls and women from the hill tribes of Burma, Laos and China, into the Thai sex industry. Filmed on location in China, Thailand and Burma, Trading Women follows the trade of women in all its complexity, entering the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex-workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians. The film also explores the international community’s response to the issue.

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Amazing Grace (2006)

In 1797, William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery, is taking a vacation for his health even while he is sicker at heart for his frustrated cause. However, meeting the charming Barbara Spooner, Wilberforce finds a soulmate to share the story of his struggle. With few allies such as his mentor, John Newton, a slave ship captain turned repentant priest who penned the great hymn, “Amazing Grace,” Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the erudite former slave turned author, Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe. Nevertheless, Wilberforce finds the inspiration in newfound love to rejuvenate the fight with new ideas that would lead to a great victory for social justice.

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Call + Response (2008)

Our CEO, Justin Dillon, directed the film “CALL+RESPONSE” and released it nationally into theaters. The film has become one of the most important devices in spurring the modern-day abolitionist movement and has been screened in every kind of room imaginable, from the the Linwood Dunn Academy Theater in Los Angeles, to nightclubs in Bangkok. The film features Grammy winning artists, politicians, journalists, celebrities and activists heralding the call for the end of slavery.

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Holly (2006)

Holly’s virginity makes her a lucrative prize, and when she is sold to a child trafficker, Patrick embarks on a frantic search through the both beautiful and sordid faces of the country, in an attempt to bring her to safety. Harsh, yet poetic, this feature forms part of the ‘K-11’ Project, utilizing mass media to raise awareness of the global child trafficking epidemic. The producers are executing the K-11 Project in conjunction with their non-profit, the Redlight Children Campaign, which is a worldwide grassroots initiative generating conscious concern and inspiring immediate action against child sexploitation.”

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Taken (2008)

Seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him “good luck,” so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend.

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Not My Life (2011)

Not My Life addresses a variety of forms of slavery, including the military use of children in Uganda, involuntary servitude in the United States, forced begging and garbage picking in India,sex trafficking in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and other kinds of child abuse. The film also investigates people who work against human trafficking. The film asserts that most human trafficking victims are children. Actress Lucy Liu said that people who watch Not My Life “will be shocked to find [human trafficking] is happening in America.” Lucy Popescu of CineVue criticized the film for focusing on human trafficking victims, arguing that the perpetrators should have been dealt with more prominently. Not My Life was named Best World Documentary at the Harlem International Film Festival in September 2012.

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The Whistleblower (2010)

Inspired by true events, Kathy (Rachel Weisz) is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations of helping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers a dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic double talk.

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Trade (2007)

In the slums of Mexico City, the small time teenager thief Jorge gives a bike to his beloved sister Adriana on her thirteenth anniversary under the protest of their mother. While riding early in the morning, Adriana is kidnapped by members of an international network of sex traffickers. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Polish single mother Veronika arrives in Mexico City with a friend lured with the promise of a work in USA in a model agency by the same criminal gang. While transported to New Jersey, the two girls become friends and Veronika protects Adriana as much as she can. Meanwhile, Jorge desperately seeks his sister in the red light zone of Mexico. He witnesses children and the women being loaded as cargo in a truck and he tracks them trying to save his sister. When he arrives in Juarez, he sees the Texan investigator Ray Sheridan, who is chasing a missing daughter, in the house where his sister was lodged. He hides himself in the trunk of Ray’s car and once in USA, Ray finds him and is convinced to help the boy in his quest.